SEO Myths and Tips

There are so many myths and tips regarding SEO, and it’s hard to decipher what’s what. We are so thankful to have connected with Sherree Mongrain at a local Rising Tide Tuesdays Together meet up. She is an SEO guru who knows how to help small businesses improve their searchability online. She has been stalking the internet and social media for 18 years, so we are thrilled to have her sharing with us on the blog today.

So, without further ado, let’s hear from Sherree and what she has to say about the (often dreaded) subject of SEO:

What is SEO and Why Do We Need It?

We have all kinds of ideas about SEO. From business owners who don’t have a clue what it is, to those who know it inside and out, there might not be anything as confusing when you’re building and
promoting your business online. SEO involves setting up various online components, like those on a website, in such a way as to cause search engines to easily find and rank the site higher. When someone initiates a search online, the search engine looks for the most relevant answer to that query. If they don’t find what they are looking for, quickly and efficiently on your site, they move on to the next one. That’s why your site may not show up until the 596th page of search results.

It’s pretty hard to get a prospect to wade through that many pages to find you! So, even though your product is excellent or your service is the best out there, your prospects never know it. The big joke (not a joke) is “The best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of Google”

So what’s a business owner to do? Let’s start by getting rid of some myths.

Myth vs Truth

Myth: If I have a great product, people will find me online.Truth: Ranking doesn’t just happen. It requires putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.Myth: I can get to page 1 of Google if I buy ad words, stuff my site with keywords, or pay John Doe, SEO expert, $3,000.Truth: Ranking well takes time. It requires patience and willingness to update your online presence regularly.Myth: Once I get it done, I can stop worrying about it.Truth: Google and other search engine algorithms change all the time. Keeping fresh content and delivering it the way the search engine wants it is key.

SEO Doesn’t Just Happen. It Takes Knowledge and a Lot of Work.

In order to improve SEO rankings there are some basic things you need to know.

Know WHO you are talking to.

Hopefully you went through this exercise when you started your business. In the online world
it’s even more important to be able to specifically identify your ideal client. Your product or
service may be used by a large variety of people, but each group needs to have its own
persona. That way, when you’re crafting your message, you can speak directly to them.

Know WHAT they are searching for.

Do you know the most popular words and phrases people use to search for your business?
These words can change, so it’s a good idea to keep checking regularly. You can use a tool
like Rank Tracker to help you with this task and many others. The free version is very robust
but there are also paid options.

Research keywords.

Rank Tracker helps you to narrow down keywords and find new and unique keywords. It
helps you understand what your competition is doing so you stay ahead of the game. Using
common keywords can backfire because the more common or generic the words are, the
greater the number of other sites using them.

Make sure your site is mobile optimized.

Long gone are the days when you could get by without having a mobile optimized site. These
days, if your site is not optimized for mobile, Google will not rank you at all, much less show
your site to a large audience. In the US, of the total number of minutes spent online, 71% are
on a mobile phone. Need to check your site? You can do that with this tool.

Create excellent content with proper use of keywords and long tail keywords.

If SEO is the map that gets prospects to your website, content is what keeps them there. The
more relevant and valuable your content is, the more your visitors will stay and come back!
At the end of the day, without content, you can’t rank highly. Google cares about people
finding value in what they search for.

Make sure your site structure is optimized.

In order for search engines to find and deliver results, the spiders or bots look for certain
types of coding in the back-end of your website. Some of these include title tags, meta
descriptions, keyword consistency, alt attributes, back links and more. A beautiful website may
still not get traffic if the structure of the site isn’t set up correctly.

Your New Best Friend

Before you begin working to improve your website rank, install and use Google Analytics to see where you are now. This will be your new best friend. This will help you to understand, as you go, what’s working. Knowing where you
need to go and being diligent about measuring it is one of the most important parts of everything you do online.

For more information about SEO or other online marketing topics, visit PEEP Social Media.

Thank you Sherree for your time and wisdom in sharing this with us! Make sure to check her out if you are in need of some SEO help. She is a great resource for our creative community!

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